Buckwheat Crepes.
Pancakes, eh?
I love me some pancakes.
You probably do too.
What a treat Shrove Tuesday used to be when I was little, we’d be flippin them all over the kitchen and trying to stick them to the ceiling :-) I remember my gran had one of those crazy double whisks with a handle, I’d really go to town on the batter (sloshing it everywhere obvz)
I make these instead of the usual plain flour, dairy milk & egg combo because… they’re GREAT! And gluten free vegan crepes should be available to everyone!
You can have standard sweet pancakes with these (or lemon and sugar *drools*) or use for savoury filled crepes or instead of chapattis with a curry :-D
Buckwheat, eh?
Buckwheat is hilariously not wheat at all - thanks language and words *rolls eyes*
It’s a pseudocereal. A fake cereal. A serial cereal liar (haha I’m funny).
So it’s not from grass and is thus, gluten free! As a flour, it’s described as ‘nutty’ - I don’t really get that but it really adds to structure where some gluten free flours don’t.
It’s also got bare fibre and is high in minerals that are apparently very good for your heart so ditch that sad bag of plain flour (for it is, very plain) and go get some buckwheat flour or grind your own from buckwheat ‘groats’!
Also, just look at them >> don’t they look edible enough to eat? DON’T YOU WANT TO EAT THEM?
Buckwheat Crepe Recipe
Yields: 6 pancakes
Time: 3 mins prep, 15 mins rest *relaxing sigh*, 5 mins cooking
Equipment: Bowl, whisk/blender, non-stick 8” frying pan (or whatever size, but I use that and they’re easy to flip), ladle, flipper (forgot the name for a flipper…), kitchen roll
Ingredients:
1 cup + up to 3 tablespoons plant milk
1 tablespoon nut butter/seed butter/tahini
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
Pinch of salt
Oil for frying
Additionals: 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of cacao (will need more liquid), lemon zest & poppyseeds, whatever you like
Recipe:
Blend or whisk the plant milk & nut/seed butter.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients (apart from the oil duh) till it’s like, a thin smoothie and coats the back of a spoon.
Leave it! Go have a cup of tea, let the batter contemplate the universe you have brought it into for a while before you cook and eat it and it’s all over
Medium heat (you know what your hob does better than me) heat you non-stick pan with a smidge of oil, when it’s hot, wipe it around with some kitchen roll.
Ladle in some of the batter, if there isn’t a sizzle the pan in’t hot enough but for this first one, it doesn’t really matter, you’ll get the hang of it! Swirl or gently use the back of the ladle to zoom the batter round to cover the bottom of the pan.
Let it cook, don’t peek! It’ll start to grow air bubbles and look like something is trying to claw it’s way out from some antediluvian netherworld (soz, been reading too much H.P.Lovecraft - shout out to the master of creepy stories)
Now you can peek, if it looks nice and golden, give it a flip!
When the now underside is golden, it’s done
Repeat with the remaining batter till you have a pile, keeping the pile covered with a tea towel till you serve.
Cover with jam, peanut butter, chocolate spread, coconut yoghurt, granola, caramelised bananas, fresh berries, lemon & sugar, creamy mushrooms, spinach & scrambled tofu, dhal & chutney or even eat them plain if that’s what you’re into.